The basic track belt disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,899,220 issued to Grawey et al on Aug. 12, 1975 is cured in a curing mold disclosed in Great Britain Pat. No. 1,555,880 published Nov. 14, 1979. Basically the curing mold includes a plurality of inner mold segments which move radially outwardly to form the inside surface of the track belt and a plurality of outer mold segments which move radially inwardly to form the outside surface of the track belt. The uncured rubber making up the track belt is compressed between the inner and outer segments which are heated to about 200.degree. to 220.degree. centigrade for curing the rubber and causing the rubber to bond to the integral anchor plates and reinforcing cable within the track belt. Inner segmented seals are carried by upper and lower rings and cooperate with outer seal elements carried by the outer mold segments for preventing the rubber in the track belt from extruding from between the inner and outer segments. Each of the inner seal segments has a projection for sealingly engaging a mating surface of the respective outer mold segment. A depression is formed between adjacent projections and cooperates with a depression in the respective outer seal element for sealingly embracing a portion of the anchor plate extending axially outwardly from the track belt. Each of the outer seal elements has a pair of relatively narrow protrusions on the opposite side of the depression for sealing against the side of the projections of the inner seal segments. The inner seal segments and outer seal elements are secured to the respective upper and lower rings and outer mold segments by plates bolted thereto.
One of the problems encountered with the belt curing mold is that replacement of the outer seal elements cause considerable down time of the curing mold and a waste of energy since it is necessary to let the curing mold cool down from the operating temperature before a mechanic can work on the mold. Of course, once the curing mold has cooled down and the seal element replaced, it is necessary to bring the curing mold back up to operating temperature before the next track belt can be cured. The replacement problem is compounded because the life of the outer seal elements has not been satisfactory thereby causing more frequent replacement. The short life of the outer seal element is attributed to the design of the seal arrangement and particularly the relatively narrow protrusions which tend to be deformed or break easily if the seal element is even slightly misaligned from the anchor plate.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems as set forth above.